SERVING THE LORD WITH JO By Vicki Marsh
As we enter the end-of-year holiday season, I begin thinking about what gift I will need to get for family members, close friends, etc. I sometimes forget that God has already given me several gifts, and I should not just keep them for myself. I should share those gifts with others, joyfully! This can be done in various ways. At my church, we have ladies who have shared teddy bears out of washcloths. In October and November, we do a “Stock the Freezer Baked Goods and then Casserole sale where ladies cook those items, and people at church can buy them to “stock their freezers” for the holiday season. And we have
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Another always decorates the rooms and hallways for Vacation Bible School (and if it is supposed to be Australia, you are looking over your shoulder for kangaroos and koala bears)! Yesterday, I used my gifts to cut off tags, fold and count 100 T- shirts, straighten and fold 100 bandanas, and unwrap (from cellophane) 100 hair brushes. (So I didn’t make anything look pret- tier, but it got those items ready for our packing party for OCC boxes)!
There are so many opportunities to use your gifts to help at a church! Volunteer to answer the phones when needed, help with VBS, be a substitute Sunday School teacher, help in the kitchen when your church has a meal, bake communion bread, serve on a committee or be a visitor to shut-ins at your church. Just ask at your church. I am sure that there is a job for you!! It is great to volunteer at church, but there are also needs out in our communities. I have a friend who volunteers in a hospital gift shop, one who, with her husband, collects and gives out food and personal items to the homeless once a week, and one who helps with homework and reads to children two days a week in an afterschool program at a li- brary. Does your town have a Meals on Wheels program? Does someone that you know need a ride to the store, doctor, or church?
Use your gifts with joy! Some of the best gifts don’t need to be gift-wrapped! First Church of Jasper
Mississippi Valley Presbytery is pleased to announce First Church of Jasper as the newest addition to our de- nomination. This increases the ARP footprint into Indiana. At the morning worship service on Sunday, August 30, Rev. Nick Robison issued a formal welcome to the Jasper congregation. Rev. Robison is pastor of the Salem ARP Church in Atoka, TN, and serves on the ONA committee for MVP. In addition, he delivered the sermon “Devoted to Worship” using Acts 2:42-47 as his scripture. Mr. Scott Fletcher, Elder from the Salem ARP church, assisted with the morning service. Rev. David Dively from Louisville, KY, is currently supplying the Jasper pulpit. Rev. Dively issued the charge to the elders and the charge to the congregation, followed by the benediction. A delicious luncheon was provided by the Jasper church in their lovely community room. After lunch was a time of fellowship. The nearest ARP church to Jasper is Midlane Park ARPC of Louisville, KY. They sent a delega- tion of six members to help celebrate and welcome our brothers and sisters in Christ.
phesians 6:7 says, “Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” I Peter 4:10 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
SERVING THE LORD WITH JOY Photo by Anastasiia Chepinska on Unsplash
From left to right: Dennis Tracy, Scott Fletcher, Rev. Nick Robison, Rev. David Dively and Greg Krodel
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